IndianaOpenWheel.com Sprint Car & Midget Racing Forum





Register! Forgot Password?
Post Reply
Charles Nungester (Offline)
  #111 2/4/23 8:14 AM
Southern Ohio Speedway, BOSS Sprint cars. Mike Bowling says they ran quite a few down there late 80s but as far as I know BOSS about 2012 was the only non wing sprints there this centrury. Track sat on the east side of a mountain, You parked at the top of that mountain and I swore I was never going to get back up that hill. turn two was kinda scary as it had a big drop off the back of it. They had to wait for the sun to set as the setting sun blocked their vision in one and two. Simon, Boespflug or vice versa won in team cars.

Track had been closed several years prior, Opened for a couple years off and on till about six years ago and seems to be permenently so.

Charles Nungester
Likes: JJMooney
JJMooney (Offline)
  #112 2/4/23 8:45 AM
Originally Posted by yeleyfan76:
WoO at Flemington. Wolfgang won in something like 8 minutes.
I’m going to keep this thread going a bit more. I just jogged my memory a bit and realized that while Flemington has already been mentioned (the dirt version of Flemington), I doubt very many on here saw a sprint car race there when Flemington was covered in asphalt.

The first year the track was paved, 1991, I ventured down there for a November open-competition, winged sprint car race. The show was booked at a time when the WoO and ASCoC were running some pavement shows and the feeling was that, with their season over, some of their regulars and the PA Posse would show. It didn’t quite work out that way as only 13 cars were in the pits come race day.

Flemington as a dirt track was wild. Flemington as a paved track was downright gnarly. The track was shaped like a square, but you drove it like a circle. As I heard Billy Pauch say once, “You need to put a circle in the square”. Winged 410 sprint cars were just wicked. Planted. Flat out, all the way around.

With the small field, and concerns over tire wear, mechanical stress, and subsequent carnage, the decision was made to run two-15 lap features. Frankie Kerr, who was exceptional on pavement, decimated the small field in both features.
2 Likes: BrentTFunk, WinglessLovers
miledirt (Offline)
  #113 2/4/23 9:04 AM
Just remembered a few others

Oklahoma City Fairgrounds
Malden in the Missouri bootheel
3 Likes: BrentTFunk, Charles Nungester, oppweld
markd (Offline)
  #114 2/4/23 11:57 AM
Digging into the memories now

The first ever WoO pavement race at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City. It was on a chilly November day and was a non points race after their season was over. I think Dave Blaney won in the Kinser 11.

USAC sprints on the "half mile" at Louisville Motor Speedway. Some reffered to that as a road course with the turns and drops onto the fifth mile. That was a nice place with one of the best short track catch fences I've ever seen.

And Ascot, I'll explain
We were at Gas City midget week in 2020 sitting and talking with a group of locals. One of the gentleman was going on and on about how he only lived 30 minutes from 6 non wing tracks and we had nothing in St Louis area (he is right) He asked were we had been. I glanced at my wife and said "She's been to Ascot". His face dropped like we told him his dog had died. I didn't want to kick him while he was down and say she has been to the Belleville Highbanks too.
9 Likes: BrentTFunk, Ilovedirttrackracing, itsanonwingthing, JJMooney, luckybuc97, oppweld, rick42, Stevensville Mike, WinglessLovers
sprintracer82 (Offline)
  #115 2/4/23 2:05 PM
Originally Posted by erich45:
Martin Michigan 131 Speedway. WoO was supposed to run a 2 day show. Second day was cancelled because of poor track conditions.
Believe it or not. When Martin began a multi million dollar renovation on the drag strip, they had planned into the budget to rebuild the oval. Unfortunately that part of the property was all peat moss. They would've had to dig half way to China to clean it out. Rather than that, they expanded the parking lot over where the track was.
3 Likes: BrentTFunk, erich45, JJMooney
interpreter66 (Offline)
  #116 2/4/23 2:34 PM
World of outlaws show St. Petersburg Florida inside the Thunderdome now called Tropicana Field home of the Tampa Bay rays baseball team.
Nashville fairgrounds speedway (pavement) awol 360 wing sprint cars .(we won )
3 Likes: BrentTFunk, JJMooney, WinglessLovers
Stevensville Mike (Offline)
  #117 2/4/23 5:36 PM
Originally Posted by markd:
USAC sprints on the "half mile" at Louisville Motor Speedway. Some referred to that as a road course with the turns and drops onto the fifth mile. That was a nice place with one of the best short track catch fences I've ever seen.
That was where they just added onto the original track and made a big loop out on the backside to increase it to a half mile? They left at the old Turn 2 and rejoined at the old Turn 3. I remember watching ARCA, when it was worth watching, on the old PASS (Detroit) network racing there. The original NASCAR Stupidtrucks raced there, also, if I recall, until NASCAR decided to dump the original idea/formula and just be an undercard to the Busch & Cup series.

Chiming in live from the West Coast of Michigan.... Mike
Likes: BrentTFunk
Rapid Rick (Offline)
  #118 2/4/23 6:43 PM
Originally Posted by openwheelfan1:
I’m fortunate and proud to say I’ve been to both Ascot and Manzanita before they closed. I’ve seen WoO, CRA and USA sprint cars and we also saw midgets at Manzy, and saw both CRA sprints and USAC midgets at Ascot. Both special places, and it is such a shame they are gone.
Only one time at Ascot. The 1988 Turkey Nite. I suggested L.A. to my bride for our honeymoon. And yes, she is still with me.
5 Likes: BrentTFunk, cowboyhar69, oppweld, rick42, WinglessLovers
cowboyhar69 (Offline)
  #119 2/4/23 8:16 PM
I was at Ascot in June of 1978 with wife # 1. It was a 100 lap CRA race that (if memory serves me correctly) Buster Venard won. Still can’t remember who was 2nd but they were in the JC Agajanian #98. I “think” it was either Shane Carson or Ronnie Shuman. Wife # 1 left in 1980……😁



Tim Wolffrum aka Cowboy
5 Likes: BrentTFunk, Charles Nungester, oppweld, Rapid Rick, rick42
racefan20 (Offline)
  #120 2/4/23 9:35 PM
Originally Posted by Stevensville Mike:
That was where they just added onto the original track and made a big loop out on the backside to increase it to a half mile? They left at the old Turn 2 and rejoined at the old Turn 3. I remember watching ARCA, when it was worth watching, on the old PASS (Detroit) network racing there. The original NASCAR Stupidtrucks raced there, also, if I recall, until NASCAR decided to dump the original idea/formula and just be an undercard to the Busch & Cup series.
I was at a NASCAR truck race there. If I remember correctly one straightaway went uphill and the other downhill. It was actually a series worth watching back then, Mike Bliss and several other open wheel guys raced in the truck series in that era.

John Hoover

“To whom little is not enough, nothing is enough.” Epicurus
4 Likes: BrentTFunk, itsanonwingthing, rick42, Stevensville Mike
Post Reply